Does anyone have a theory as to WHY they have horse skulled heads? This is my absolute FAVORITE card in the entire deck for many reasons, but that one little detail I can't seem to figure out. It nags at me, like I should KNOW this, but I don't. And when I try "conversing" with the card & asking her I get an "I have no idea what you mean." sort of brush-off. It fascinates & infuriates me, but I haven't yet seen anyone mention WHY she has a horse head.

I did try asking the deck artist once, he said there is a reason but I would have to wait for the book to be published. From what I hear it still hasn't been.

With death comes rebirth. A child wants to re-enter the womb, but is held back by the child already occupying it, pushed away by circumstances that cannot be altered or controlled. The existing cycles into the non-existent and is quickly replaced. It's a jarring image, and an equally jarring concept I think, but something about the image seems oddly natural to me. When I look at the image, I realize that this isn't such a rare occurrence in the animal world, that the young are often cast out when a new "child" is born, and that it's simply a part of this cycle that we call life.

This card speaks to me and seems to say that no matter how painful or uncomfortable Death is, it's something that cannot be escaped.

Yyyeeeessss.

I think that the aurther is a passionate admirer of Carl Jung and Aleister Crowly.

In fact, this crime story has a subtle psychological sense and Biblical spiritual justification.

At first sight this picture remined me the image of Black Ethiopia Madonna with a child, transformed to deep spiritual allegory.

If ou see there is red veil on the Mother's head. It is Priestess veil.
The only day when Priests are able to wear red ceremonial cloth is the Easter day. It is the day of Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Red colour is the colour of Jesus blood.
Do you remember? God the Father has sent his beloved Son to die to atone for our sins with his blood.

The card Death (13) has two inner keys = Death 13 = 1+3 = 4 - Emperor (the Father). 4=2+2 = 22 the Fool (the Child and new way at the same time).

The child on the picture in the pose of pray. It reminds me the last Christ's pray in Gethsemane garden.
Horse's skull was an allegory of fate, destiny, evil rock, from which he is not able to escape.

The ship - a symbol of hope, but sinking ship is the sympol of hope which we have placed on his life and which was not justified. This is an allegory of deep disappointment in our past ideals.
Our past deeds and enterprises were unprofitable, we stuffed the bump on them and are now forced to renounce them and dramatically change their lives. Sinking ship - a symbol of what we once made a mistake, but it happened because of our naivety and short-sighted. Now we are trying to fix the consequences of past failures, but so far in vain.
Sacrifice of the child means the sacrifice of ideal representations and acceptance of life as it really is. This refusal to infantile ideas associated with the power of matriarchal start. it is refusal from comming back to mother's bosom again to feel protected. It is the path to independence and self-decision in our life.
Ship has sank in the water. Water is the symbol of Moon, feninine nature, and...... illusion.
"It is water and the water inhabitants killed Osiris" - Aleister Crowly.

The Child = Infante (the child)=infantilism (the Childness).

The card of Death refers to the possibility of sacrificing one of the infantile ego, its crucifixion, destruction, so that it became possible rebirth on a fundamentally different level.

One of the main meaning of the Death card is difficult change of our fate.
You feel difficult now, and you will be more difficult in the future.
it is difficult "to kill your inner child", whom you have been nurtured and cherished in yourself long time. It's just that drop your habit of taking drugs or alcohol.
But there is no longer return to the past, it is the starting point for change in your life. You should be looking for something to solve your problem.

I want to add to Black Madonna... (Black madonna - Black Moon Goddess - Eva - Lilith) Black Goddess of the Moon, demon of the Night - Lilith, killing her chldren. It is refusal from old bible Eva's motherhood based in instincts to natural feminine wishes of Lilith.
This woman makes a step from mother's way to the way of lover-woman, getting rid of the habitual phisical and emotional affections, social laws to independance, going ahead to the big sea of feelings, keeping her reproductive function only to prolongate the human race.
From this point of view this card can be considered like a hymn to feminism and its sexuality - multiple, penetrating, redundant, not constrained boundaries....
What do you think? So that looking at thhis card I can not understand the only thing..... Is it allegory or parody?????

I, too, have a hard time seeing it as the child trying to climb back into the womb, regardless of what the LWB says! I keep seeing it as the mother crushing her child. She is the ultimate dark mother, both the giver and the destroyer of life. The old must be destroyed to bring forth the new. And in keeping with the child being unable to crawl back into the womb, we can't ever go back.

Definitely looking forward to the companion book so we can find out the meaning of the horse skull head. It's so unlike any other figure in the deck.

This is my reasoning behind it, with some other thoughts on the card and what it signifies to me thrown in! Got a bit carried away so I hope it's clear and not too repetitive! :-)

If the child is trying to re-enter the womb, to me that signifies trying to return to safety – perhaps for us an easier idea is not so much returning to the womb but the mother herself, her arms, her reassurance. However, if the mother does not teach her child that there are some things they can do for themselves then they will not reach independence. The Querent is approaching a period of change; they must end something and begin something new. However, they are afraid and seek to return to the familiar, to safety, this card tells us we cannot return to safety, now is the time to realise what we can do independently, to stop reaching up our arms to what has comforted us in the past and move forward into what we need to do. I agree that the circumstances are not under our control as to why we cannot return to safety, demonstrated by the new child in the womb. I also think that this moving up on life’s ladder from the baby to the older sibling – although daunting – can be a very exciting step if we stop concentrating on what was lost and start looking to what we have to gain.

As I feel the Deviant Moon Tarot has so much to do with the mind and dreams, the main reason I see for the horses and horse skulls are related to their meaning in dreams. The horse-creatures are dark, and their white skulls signify that they are dead. Skeletons also symbolise secrets and depletion.

Black or dark horse: Unaccepted passions; threat of death; the unknown or threatening changes. An unconscious but natural energy expressing and becoming conscious. Also wildness and secrets.

So when confronted by the death of an old habit or period of time, we feel threatened because the future is unknown. These changes seem to us to be creating a path that is full of secrets we don’t understand. Our emotions feel wild and vulnerable like that of the little horse-creature. However, because we need this change there is a natural energy driving us and beginning to work its way to our conscious, we need to direct this energy into the new path and not towards returning to safety.

Dead horse: An old and dying set of habits and motivations or way of life.

Which is of course the epitome of the death card, represented through the skulls we see that something must die in order for a new birth, be it of a new life stage or motivation.

New born horse: Emerging energy or new motivations.

Just reaffirming that the energy to move into this new stage is there, we simply need to direct it.

In magic, horses can be linked to fertility (like the pregnant creature on the card) which is all to do with the cycles of life.

(Sidenote: Perhaps the carnivorous teeth say we see the new life stage and the death of the old as more disturbing than most change, but also these horse creatures have a way to protect themselves, the baby-creature is not as vulnerable as he thinks he’s got those sharp teeth.)

Horse skulls have been linked to protection, again for me this card is suggesting that you are able to make this significant life change even if you fear it.

Opal, what you say makes a LOT of sense and given how much thought the artist gave to the rest of the imagery in his deck, I couldn't just brush off the horses as being a simple remnant of tradition. The knights are usually on horses but all of them were given otherworldly mounts.

This is something I'll want to think about but I can definitely see useful applications here. You made perfect sense and I thank you.

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